Asociación Entre Eventos Adversos de por Vida, Desregulación de la Emoción, Síntomas de Estrés Postraumático, Aculturación y Dolor Crónico: Un Modelo de Mediación Moderada
[Thesis]
El-Haj, Mariam
Charak, Ruby
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
2019
82 p.
M.A.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
2019
The association between traumatic experiences and chronic pain is well established. Lesser is known about how acculturation might affect this relation, specifically with Hispanics. In the present study, self-report measures on traumatic experiences, posttraumatic stress symptoms, emotion dysregulation, chronic pain, and acculturation were administered to 140 participants (71.4% females) aged 18-65 years old (M = 35.06, SD = 11.55), to determine whether acculturation moderates the relation between adverse lifetime experiences and chronic pain as mediated by posttraumatic stress symptoms and emotion dysregulation. Those who were highly acculturated to the U.S. Anglo culture were higher on chronic pain than those who were less acculturated; however, those who were less acculturated had a steeper incline in chronic pain as emotion dysregulation and posttraumatic symptoms of negative affect and hyperarousal increased, ultimately expressing more chronic pain overall. More research needs to be conducted on Hispanic populations to see how this plays out longitudinally.